People who lack sleep are more likely to catch colds

People who do not get enough sleep are four times more likely than their well-rested counterparts to catch a cold, US researchers said Monday.

01.09.2015

(AFP) People who do not get enough sleep are four times more likely than
their well-rested counterparts to catch a cold, US researchers said
Monday.

The findings in the journal Sleep are based on a study of 164
volunteers who allowed themselves to be exposed to the cold virus by
researchers who were also tracking their sleep habits.

First, the subjects underwent health screenings and completed
questionnaires so researchers could understand factors such as stress,
temperament, and alcohol and cigarette use.

Their sleep habits were measured for one week prior to the beginning
of the study, which required them to stay in a hotel room in the
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.

Once sequestered in the hotel, researchers administered the cold
virus via nasal drops and monitored the volunteers for a week,
collecting daily mucus samples to see if the virus had taken hold.

The results showed that those who had slept less than six hours a
night during the week leading up to the study were 4.2 times more likely
to catch the cold compared to those who got more than seven hours of
sleep.

Those who slept less than five hours were 4.5 times more likely to get sick.

"Short sleep was more important than any other factor in predicting
subjects' likelihood of catching cold," said Aric Prather, assistant
professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco,
and lead author of the study.

"It didn't matter how old people were, their stress levels, their
race, education or income. It didn't matter if they were a smoker. With
all those things taken into account, statistically sleep still carried
the day."